even marry the daughter of a layman. In the priestly class, all the youths now do not pass through the Navar and Martab ceremonies which made them priests (ervad). The dignity of dastur is the highest in the craft. Their duties are numerous; they have to attend to the service of the temples and keep the fire constantly burning there. The ancient Iranians always regarded this element as the symbol of divinity and, as such, worthy of respect; but they never professed themselves to be the worshippers of the Fire. The modern Parsis consider fire "as an emblem of refulgence, glory, and light, as the most perfect symbol of God and as the best and noblest representative of his divinity." Bishop Meurin has given his opinion about fire reverence in such excellent and choice expressions that we cannot help quoting them. "I am, therefore, very far from supposing that the Parsi fire worship is idolatry. Whoever accuses the Parsis of that most heinous of all crimes, and is not able to prove that they believe fire or sun to be God himself, is certainly guilty of the most detestable sin of calumny."

The Zoroastrian is not forced to attend places of worship in order to say his prayers nor to wait for a priest. The old Iranians, as is well known, deemed that nature in all its grandeur is their temple of worship. Often, at Bombay, numbers of Parsis go to the sea-shore and recite their prayers, with their faces turned to the rising or the setting

sun.

The religious obligations of the Parsi are few. Between the age of seven and five a Zoroastrian must be invested with the sudeah (shirt) and kushti (girdle), which are the visible symbols or emblems of the Mazdayasni religion. The ceremony is called naojot (new, or first, worship). The candidate declares himself to be a worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zoroaster, an opponent of daevas (false gods), and subject to the laws of Ahura. Marriage is blessed by a priest; the outward pomp is, or rather was, totally Hindu. As to death and funeral rites, the ceremonies are most antique; the mode of disposing of the dead on high walls or stone platforms (towers of silence) is purely Avestic. Of course, it has long been and it still is an object of wonder to foreigners; but, after a consideration of the laws of hygiene and sanitation, the most averse to the custom grow reconciled to it.

A remarkable feature of modern Parsi-ism is the repugnance of the whole community either to proselytism or conversion. It is a fact that the Parsis have always been deaf to the allurements of the Brahminic worship and to the earnest appeals of Christian missionaries. The coarse Hinduism of the present could not tempt the pure soul of the monotheistic Mazdayasni; as to the appeals of the missionaries, they have been also fruitless for other reasons. The remembrance of the few conversions made by Dr. Wilson (1839) is still very bitter. At that time, a Zoroastrian boastingly

could say to the ardent apostle: "With regard to the conversion of a Parsi, you cannot even dream of the event, because even a Parsi babe crying in the cradle is firmly confident in the venerable Zarthust." Since then conversions have been

rare.

The best proof of the attachment of the enlightened Parsi to his religion is to be found in Dr. Wilson's protégé, Mr. Malabari, whose companion and class-fellow, S. D. B.-, embraced Christianity. Mr. Malabari has stated that he resisted the influence of his old and respected friend, simply because he believed in salvation by faith and by word, but did not think the mediation of another absolutely necessary for salvation. However, he is not one of those who speak lightly of Christ. "I know not," he says, "if India will become Christian, and when. But this much I know, that the life and work of Christ must tell in the end. After all, He is no stranger to us Easterns. How much He brings back to us refined and modernized!" As to the missionaries, he fully acknowledges their good service to the cause of civilization.

"We are indebted to them for the first start in the race for intellectual emancipation. It is to them that we are beholden for some of our most cherished political and social acquisitions. . . . Apart from its active usefulness, the Christian mission serves as a buffer for the side of skepticism usually inseparable from intellectual emancipation. At a time when doubt and distrust are to take the place of reasoned inquiry among the younger generation of India, I feel bound to acknowledge in my own person the benefits I have derived

from a contact with the spirit of Christianity. But for that holy contact I could scarcely have grown into the stanch and sincere Zoroastrian that I am, with a keen appreciation of all that appeals readily to the intelligence and a reverend curiosity for what appeals to the heart, knowing full well that much of what is mysterious to man is not beneath, but beyond, the comprehension of a finite being."

The Parsis are totally ignorant of propaganda; they are most tolerant and never attempt to change the creed of any one. Were they always so? Is their present reserve in keeping with the Zoroastrian precepts? It seems that in days of yore they were more zealous. Some ancient treatises are of an essentially propagandist character, and we cannot help alluding to the most severe persecutions that the Christians had to endure under the Sassanian princes. Nevertheless, the Parsis, in India, show the greatest reluctance to increase their number, not only by conversion, but also by any alliance with people of other religions. So that they have to multiply by marrying among themselves; fortunately, they belong to a prolific race, if we consider the small number of the first settlers and their present position.

IV

According to the general census of 1891, the number of Parsis then in India was 89,904; 76,774 are quartered in the Bombay Presidency. The city of Bombay has a flourishing Parsi popula

tion of 47,498 souls; Surat, 12,757; then we can mention Broach, Thana, Karachi, etc. The priestly town of Nausari is, perhaps, the most important of the settlements outside British territory. The occupations in the lower classes are varied and numerous. It is remarkable that the Parsis have never taken to the more menial employments, such as those of day-laborers, scavengers, palki-bearers, barbers, washermen, grooms, etc. Before the terrible trials of plague and famine, among thousands of mendicants there were only five Parsis, four males and one female. As to the victims of immorality, a Parsi was proud to record that "not a single Parsi female returned herself as living on the wages of shame."

The Parsis are not exclusively quartered in India. Some are to be found in China (Canton, Macao, Hong-Kong), Penang, Rio, Mauritius, Cape Town, Madagascar, Australia. We do not mention Europe, where they come frequently, either for study or pleasure, never for a permanent stay, except in London.

We must not forget the small group of the Zoroastrians living in the Persian provinces of Yezd and Kirman. Their condition was for years miserable to a degree. The number of the educated few is limited; the head of the Yezd community is Mr. Ardashir Mihraban, with whom the writer became acquainted through Mr. E. G. Browne, the eminent lecturer on Persian at Cambridge, his * Karaka, History of the Parsis.